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Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Nikon 1 cameras: not as 'huge' as Ashton Kutcher would have you believe; a poor value

Chart: Pixtus.com The yellow is the Nikon 1 sensor; the blue
is an APS-C sensor which even the cheaper Nikon 3100 has.

A dinky-sensor camera for the price of a large-sensor DSLR. Fail. But you do get your choice of fashionable colors! Ken Rockwell says this new lens system/odd sensor size camera will be orphaned in a few years. We think he's right. Better compact camera:Fujifilm X-Pro 1 with an APS-C sized sensor that is more than 3 times the size of the Nikon 1's and which does better in low light. Speaking of which, the Fujifilm 35mm (50mm 35mm film equivalent) f1.4 (!) prime lens is four times faster (or more) than any Nikon lens you can get for the "1" system. (Good thing, too, since a flash for the Fuji is optional.) One more thing: the Fuji sensor is built in a way that doesn't require a low pass sensor to minimize moire patterns, so there's nothing in the camera between the image the lens transmits and the sensor. The Fuji is is more expensive, but it gives you access to the fastest prime lens in compact digital photography except for the f1.1 Leica Noctilux-M 50 — which costs nearly $10,000!

Maynard (Bob "Gilligan's Island" Denver) slyly flashes a nipple to the CBS eye while trying to talk his best buddy Dobie Gillis (Dwayne Hick­man) into taking off all his clothes. Whoever said 1950s television was a vast waste­land obviously didn't know where to look.